Flame retarding backing for inflammable webs

ABSTRACT

A BACKING OF MATERIAL HAVING FLAME RETARDANT PROPERTIES IS DISCLOSED. THE NEW BACKING MATERIAL INCLUDES A FOAMED MATERIAL HAVING A FLEECE LAYER COMPOSED OF NONINFLAMMABLE FIBERS JOINED TO ONE SIDE BY NEEDLE LOOMING. THE FLEECE COVERED SURFACE OF THE FOAMED MATERIAL CAN BE ATTACHED TO THE BACK OF AN INFLAMMABLE WEB, SUCH AS PLUSH AND VELOUR FABRICS TO RENDER THEM SUFFICIENTLY RESISTANT TO FIRE AS TO BE READILY MARKETBLE.   D R A W I N G

Aug. 17, 1971 B. KERRES 3,600,261

FLAME RETARDING BACKING FOR INFLAMMABLE WEBS Filed Dec. 26, 1968 2 f, v WW-{W7 o o o O o "IQ- i j 9"? M ifi 26 INVENTOR BRUNO KERRES ATTORNEYS 3,600,261 FLAME RETARDING BACKING FOR INFLAMMABLE WEBS Bruno Kerres, Grefrath, Germany, assignor to Girmes-Werke AG, Krefeld, Germany Filed Dec. 26, 1968, Ser. No. 787,001 Claims priority, applictigr: Gsefirmany, Sept. 18, 1968,

Int. Cl. B3211 5/08, 5/18;D05c 17/12 US. Cl. 16164 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to inflammable webs such as plush and velour textile fabrics. More specifically, the invention provides a backing material for inflammable webs that imparts flame retarding properties to the final material sufficient to meet the fire hazard standards for fabrics as established by various governmental agencies.

In particular, plush fabrics used for clothing are inflammable due to the loose and long haired pile on their outer surface. Such fabrics are typically made from inflammable fibers, since non-inflammable synthetic fibers do not have the requisite feel, grip or appearance characteristics that make plush fabrics desirable to the public. To protect the buying public, many countries have established rules prescribing that plush fabrics must be treated to meet certain non-inflammable standards before they can be sold. One such non-inflammable standard is found in United States Commercial Standard CS 191.53. According to this standard, a plush fabric is sufficiently flameproof if thepile burns slow enough or if it burns fast but only superficially so as not to damage the rear (non-piled) surface of the fabric.

Various means for treating plush fabrics to meet the standards established by US. Commercial Standard CS 191.53 have been used. In addition to imparting flameproof properties to the fabric, these treatments must also be resistant to repeated dry cleaning and washing. However, it has been found that although these treatments meet the regulatory requirement, they are detrimental to the marketability of the material, by adversely affecting the feel, grip and appearance of the very delicate pile. In fact, most presently known flameproofing treatments for plush fabrics adversely affect the desirable properties of the fabric to the point where they are unmarketable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A primary objective of the invention is to provide a method for providing plush fabrics and other inflammable webs with suflicient flame retarding properties to meet regulatory standards Without adversely affecting the marketable characteristics of the fabrics. The invention provides a flame retarding backing material that is easily attached to the non-piled surface of a plush fabric, typically by adhesive means, that adds very little to the weight of the fabric and does not affect the desirable properties of the plush pile.

The flame retarding backing material of the invention comprises a foamed material having a fleece layer of United States Patent 0 "ice 3,6fl0,26l Patented Aug. 17, 1971 non-inflammable fibers joined to one of its sides. In accordance with the invention, the fleece covered side of the foamed material is adhered to the rear surface of an inflammable web, to provide an effective flame barrier. When an inflammable web is joined to the new backing material in accordance with the invention, and set on fire, the rear surface of the backing material is not burned. Further, the foamed material itself may be provided with a flame stopping dressing or finish, although the fleece layer usually provides sufficient flame retarding properties to the new backing material.

In accordance with a specific aspect of the invention, the fleece layer of the non-inflammable fibers is formed in situ, by needle looming a loose layer of non-inflammable fibers into the foamed material. The needle looming process is generally known in the art and is used primarily in the production of felt-like carpets. By means of the needle looming procedure, the loose layer of noninflammable fibers is formed into a felt-like fleece struc ture and simultaneously driven into (not through) the foam backing to firmly connect the foam and fleece layers.

The connection between the fleece layer of non-inflammable fibers and the foamed material is made by those ends of the fibers that have pierced and penetrated into the foamed material as a result of the needle looming process. As a result of utilizing the needle looming process for joining the fleece layer to the foamed material, the flexibility of the backing material is not decreased (which is extremely important when the fabric is to be be used in the manufacture of clothing) and the weight of the backing material is not increased at all since an additional component is not used for joining the two layers.

Preferably, the noninflammable fibers making up the fleece are synthetic fibers produced from resins such as polyvinyl chloride and copolymers of polyvinyl chloride and vinyl compounds such as vinyl acetate. It has been found that the flame stopping action of the fleece is retained if a significant proportion, of up to about 30%, of other fibers such as viscose fibers, are included in the fleece layer.

The foamed material utilized in the new backing material can be chosen from many suitable foams available in the art. However, it has been found that polyurethane foam is particularly suitable for use in accordance with the invention and is preferred.

The new backing material is typically applied to the inflammable web, by adhering the fleece covered side of the backing material to the rear side of the inflammable material by a suitable adhesive. The adhesive chosen must be resistant to the solvents used in dry cleaning to prevent separation of the backing from the fabric during dry cleaning.

Of course, the use of the new backing material is not limited to woven plush fabrics and can be adapted for use with virtually any inflammable web. For instance, when utilized as a backing for knitted pile bearing fabrics, the new material permits the pile fibers to be chosen without regard to their inflammability.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the backing material of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the backing material of FIG. 1 adhered to a plush fabric.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a foam material 10 having a fleece layer 11 composed of a large plurality of non-inflammable fibers joined to one of its surfaces is shown. The fleece material 11 has been joined to the foamed material 10 by a needle looming process which has forced a large plurality of fiber ends 12 through the surface of the foamed material.

As shown in FIG. 2, the side of the backing material having the fleece layer 11 is adhered to the rear of a combustible fabric 14. Typically, the combustible fabric 14 is a plush fabric having a long pile 15. The fleece layer 11 of the backing material is adhered to the fabric 14 by a suitable adhesive layer 13 typically composed of a polyester-polyisocyanate composition.

Preferably, a 2 millimeter thick sheet of polyesterurethane foam having a specific gravity of about 28 kg. per cubic meter is used as the foamed material 10.

The fleece layer 11 is preferably composed of 70 percent by weight of non-inflammable synthetic fibers and 30 percent by weight of viscose fibers. Advantageously, the non-inflammable synthetic fibers can be a copolymer consisting of 85 percent vinyl chloride and 15 percent vinyl acetate. A typical effective fleece layer is about 2 to 3 millimeters in thickness and a density of between about 70 and 100 grams per square meter. Typical fibers used to make the fleece are about 60 millimeters long and about 5 denier in thickness.

The fleece layer 11 is advantageously formed in situ on the surface of the foamed material. In forming the fleece, a loose layer of fibers in accordance with the invention, is placed on one side of the foamed material. The foamfiber assembly is then passed under a large number of up and down moving needles that pierce the foam surface through the loosely arranged fibers. In doing so, the needles force a large number of fiber ends 12 into (but not usually through) the foamed material, thereby joining the two layers.

This fleece forming and joining process is known in the art as needle looming and is typically used in making feltlike carpets. In the needle looming process, the up and moving needles are normally fastened to several up and down moving bars. The needles are usually spaced about 1 to 3 millimeters apart. The needles on adjacent bars are laterally staggered such that when the fiber-foam assembly is passed under the moving needles at a predetermined speed, practically all points on the foam surface are pierced once or several times. Since the needles pass through the fiber layer before entering the foamed material a large plurality of fiber ends will be forced through the surface of the foam, thereby joining the fleece to the foamed material to form the backing material of the invention.

The invention provides an economical method for manufacturing a backing material for imparting flameproof characteristics to inflammable webs. The new backing material adds very little to the weight of the inflammable web that it is ultimately joined to and does not adversely affect the feel and appearance characteristics that make certain inflammable fabrics such as plush fabrics, attractive to the consumer.

It should be understood, of course, that the specific form of the invention herein illustrated and described is intended to be representative only, as certain changes may be made therein without departing from the clear teachings of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A flame resistant laminate material comprising (a) a top layer of inflammable fabric,

(b) a bottom layer of foamed material,

(c) an intermediate layer comprising a large plurality of randomly disposed non-flammable fibers,

(d) said intermediate layer being adhesively joined to said top layer,

(c) said intermediate layer being joined to said bottom layer by a larger plurality of fiber ends projecting through the surface of said foamed material.

2. The laminate material of claim 1, wherein (a) said foam material has non-inflammable properties.

3. The laminate material of claim 1, wherein (a) said foamed material is a polyurethane foam.

4. The laminate material of claim 1, wherein (a) said intermediate fleece layer is applied to said foamed material by needle looming.

5. The laminate material of claim 1, wherein (a) said inflammable web is a plush type textile fabric,

having a loose, long haired pile.

6. The laminate material of claim 1, wherein (a) said intermediate layer has a thickness between about 2 and 3 millimeters, and

(b) said intermediate layer has a density between and grams per square meter.

7. The material of claim 1, wherein (a) said non-inflammable fibers are synthetic fibers.

8. The laminate material of claim 7, further characterized by (a) said non-inflammable fibers including a substantial amount of polyvinyl chloride fibers.

9. The laminate material of claim 7, further characterized by (a) said non-inflammable fibers including a substantial amount of fibers composed of a copolymer of vinyl chloride and vinyl acetate.

10. The laminate material of claim 9, wherein (a) up to about 30% by weight of the fibers comprising said intermediate layer are viscose fibers.

11. In a fabric of the plush type having a loose, long haired inflammable pile on its outer surface, the improvement comprising a flame retarding backing material joined to the inner surface of said fabric, said backing material comprising a layer of foamed material having a fleece layer of non-inflammable fibers on one side, said fleece layer being adhesively joined to the inner surface of said fabric and joined to said foamed material by a large plurality of fiber ends projecting through the surface of said foamed material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,451,109 6/1969 Klein l6l81X 3,354,020 11/1967 Copeland 16181X 3,046,173 7/1962 Copeland 16181X ROBERT F. BURNETT, Primary Examiner M. A. LITMAN, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

